Story Behind the Song: Patty Loveless and George Jones, 'You Don't Seem to Miss Me'

First Jim Lauderdale hears that the great Patty Loveless is going to cut his song, "You Don't Seem to Miss Me." Then he finds out the one and only George Jones is also going to appear on the track. It's like "two birthdays and Christmas," as Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International puts it.

The only problem was Lauderdale's record label wanted him to record the song for himself. Spoiler alert: It all worked out, and "Miss Me" became the lead single of Loveless' 1997 album, "Long Stretch of Lonesome."

Lauderdale told the Story Behind the Song to Herbison in a recent video interview.

Bart Herbison: The great Patty Loveless cut, “You Don’t Seem to Miss Me.” … I've told you this before: You do this thing where you just take one word, and you go through a whole musical range and kind of slide the notes. Elvis could have recorded every song you ever wrote, Jim Lauderdale. George Jones ends up (joining Patty on the track). People say it's a harmony, but it's a double-lead vocal to me. Was it planned as a duet? Take us back to how you wrote this song.

Jim Lauderdale: I had written that song when I was living in Los Angeles. I was visiting the desert and in Yucca Valley. My friend, co-producer back then and bass player Dusty Wakeman had a place called Rimrock Ranch. It was about 10 minutes up the hill from a place I used to play at, and still do, called Pappy and Harriet's. It was just such a great place, and I still love going out there and trying to write.

BH: Now you're isolated. It's in the desert. You're out near Joshua Tree. Let's just get this setting. You told me earlier. You love to (write) even on a full moon. It's so inspirational out there.

JL: It's my favorite time to write out there, at night. I'm still old school and write stuff down in a notebook. And you can read it (at night), you know, it's like a dim sunlight almost. I came back, and a person real important to me is a man named Tim Coates. And Garry Tallent was the original bassist and still plays bass with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. He had a studio off of White Bridge Road called MoonDog. He used to play on my stuff that I did over there all the time. Tim Coates is this great engineer. When I started having some luck with getting songs cut, and I was with (publisher) Bluewater music, I had a demo budget. And I would just constantly, or as much as I could, book studio time and book this great group of players whether I had something ready or not. I would just go in. I had "You Don't Seem to Miss Me" ready, so we went in and made a demo out of it. And Pat McMurray from Bluewater called me and said, "Hey, Emery Gordy Jr. (Loveless’ producer and husband) and Patty Loveless are meeting with songwriters." It was upstairs in a place. It used to be a bar and restaurant.

BH: I think you're talking about Toucan, right there on Music Row. It was also called Sammy B's at one point, right next to Warner Brothers.

JL: I went and I had several CDs with me, with lyrics. … I said hey, how about (this one), whatever song it was, and Emory was like, "Yeah, we've heard that one." And I was sitting there thinking, "Oh, shoot, they've heard this batch of songs that I thought would be good. I don't know what I'm gonna play."

… This was before I made my first record on RCA. (Label executive) Joe Galante had really liked the song called "You Don't Seem to Miss Me." I think Thom Schuyler, Renee Bell and Joe had come out to a thing I did at the Bluebird, and I did that song. And then they later offered me a deal, which I was so happy about. So they kind of, in some way signed me off of that song. ... And then I (told Gordy and Loveless), "Well, here's one." And so I did "You Don't Seem to Miss Me." And then the next day, Pat McMurray from Bluewater called and said, "Hey, they want to cut (that song.)”

… And then I thought, “What about RCA?” So I told Joe Galante. I said, ”Gosh, I don't know how to tell you this, but Patty Loveless wants to record this song. I know you guys really like it. Is that OK?” And Joe said, "You know what? Let her do it. You're a songwriter, you write another song." And I'm so appreciative that they let me do that, because they easily could have said, "Listen, we want that song for you." And when George Jones was put on there, that was such a dream.

BH: The best cut you can get in that moment is Patty Loveless; I think you're following up, what? "Trouble with the Truth." She's on fire. I really think this cut helps cement her into the superstar category. And then Jones comes on, too? (laughs) It's like two birthdays and Christmas, Jim!

JL: Exactly. And I had a brief deal with Epic Records before I did the one with Reprise and since I was on the label, I said, "Well, George is doing these duets with people ..." So that was a real fantasy. I had flown in from Los Angeles, and I pitched them everything I could think of that I thought would be good. And (Jones' wife) Nancy had said, "If George doesn't like something, he'll start sucking his teeth." And that's a cue to just move on. So I'd play (a song), and they'd have the lyric sheet, and after a little bit I'd see him (Lauderdale makes sucking sound).

BH: (laughs) I'd never heard that! He had a poker tell.

JL: And so I was like, "Uh, hey, let's move on. Here's another one." So anyway, we ended up cutting a song by Doodle Owens called "Tavern Choir." We went in with Billy Sherill. I was so happy. And then when I wasn't with the label after that, they just shelved it. And I was so disappointed. But then years later, they put out a record of all of these unreleased duets, … so that was great that it finally came out. But I'll tell you, when I first heard "You Don't Seem to Miss Me" on the radio, you don't seem to miss me. I pulled over and just cried. I mean, I still get goosebumps when I hear it.

About the series

In partnership with Nashville Songwriters Association International, the "Story Behind the Song" video interview series features Nashville-connected songwriters discussing one of their compositions. For full video interviews with all of our subjects, visit Tennessean.com/music.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Story Behind the Song: Patty Loveless and George Jones, 'You Don't Seem to Miss Me'